The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for processing a photographic print and, more particularly, to a method and an apparatus for processing a photographic print which are capable of enhancing efficiency and quality of verification by representing a plurality of images corresponding to changes of processing conditions at a time so that an operator can compare them.
In recent years, the number of so-called mini-lab shops in which photographic processing apparatus are miniaturized and automated for the purposes of prompt processing in small quantities are increasing. In photographic processing lab shops including such mini-lab shops (hereinafter referred to simply as “labs”), various ideas have been adopted so as to enhance photographic processing efficiency in such a manner that even an operator who does not have sufficient knowledge of photographic processing can operate the photographic processing apparatus.
A primal point for enhancing the photographic processing efficiency is to adjust a photographic printing condition (hereinafter referred to simply as “printing condition”) so that respective original images (respective frames of negative film) for photographic printing can be processed to produce in high yield good-quality photographic prints, that is to say, photographic prints on which photographic characteristics such as density, hue, gradation and the like are reproduced in a well-balanced manner.
Such adjustment largely depends on not only performance of the photographic processing apparatus, but also skill of a so-called “verification person”, namely, an operator who checks for each frame of the negative film whether a printing condition set by means of an automatic setup in the photographic processing apparatus is appropriate or not. The operator has difficulty in enhancing the skill, since it requires experience.
In order to cope with the above problem, various countermeasures have been proposed. For example, it has been known that an original image in each frame of the negative film and an image subjected to a certain type of processing (image processing), namely, an image adjusted based on a printing condition which the photographic processing apparatus has set by means of an automatic setup are displayed side by side and then such representation on a display is utilized as a reference when the operator evaluates the degree (level) of processing.
However, since a conventional apparatus of this type is constructed such that only one type of image which has been subjected to the image processing is represented by the side of the original image on a frame basis, the operator who judges that a satisfactory print quality is not still achieved must compare the images of the two frames to thereby determine and instruct an image processing condition that is deemed to be optimal.
However, this method representing only one type of processed image is not necessarily satisfactory to enhance photographic processing efficiency, because when the quality of this image is very far from that to be obtained, it is difficult to obtain a print having a satisfactory quality by one correction and, in some cases, it is necessary to repeat correction twice or three times.